


Thief of Magic

by Word_Devourer



Category: Homestuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:40:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Word_Devourer/pseuds/Word_Devourer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While walking, Jade Harley is rudely interrupted by someone in mismatched clothes, with somewhere to be.  It's not a total loss, though!  She gets a smartwatch.  That's cracked.  And is stuck on the compass app.  Which doesn't face north.</p><p>But if it's not facing north, what's it pointing to?</p><p>Maybe it's adventure?  Friendship?  East?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thief of Magic

It's a cloudy day, as Jade Harley walks down through one of the small areas of forest that are scattered throughout the city. With the area deserted, she can almost imagine that she's in one of the giant forests her grandfather is so fond of telling her about. It feels almost too perfect, as if there should be people swamping this scenic path, or maybe flies everywhere, or maybe somebody in a ridiculous outfit running past her, knocking her over in the process.

Someone in a ridiculous outfit runs past her, knocking her over in the process.

Jade turns to look at the stranger standing up just a bit past her, dusting off their hands. Her first impression is a mess of black hair, almost in her face, and then of a mismatched set of clothes, in varying sizes. In one hand, the stranger holds one of those toy wands people give to girls who want to be fairy godmothers. Jade catches the glint of metal on their fingers, probably rings, and a stretchy wristband on their left wrist. In short, they look like a hobo.

Hobo or no hobo, they don't get a free pass to run people down. "Hey!" shouts Jade as they begin to run without another backwards glance.

They turn, still moving and Jade catches a look of mixed fear and anger, on a man's face. It's slightly muffled by the pair of shutter shade's he's wearing. He reaches out, with his left hand, and the wristband flashes. So does Jade's vision, and for a second, all she can see is blinding white. She blinks repeatedly, trying to clear her vision, but all she gets is white for the next few seconds.

By the time her vision returns, the man is nothing but a shrinking back, off in the distance. Jade hears a few shouts from that direction, and she thinks she sees figures chasing him, but nothing definite.

For a while, Jade just sits where she is, staring into the distance. Eventually, she decides that she should either continue her walk or find out what was going on. It's really no contest. She starts running towards where she saw the man going. Now, there's just the sound of her breath in her ears, and she quickly comes out to a street in the area where city meets suburb. No sign of the man or the figures she might have seen. In the street, though, there is a small black object, circular.

It's a wristband, not like the one the man was wearing. It's one of those smartwatches, screen cracked. It turns on in her hands. It's open to a compass app, which is pointing roughly in the direction of the sun. So, not a good compass then. She tries to get it back to it's home screen. Nothing happens.

"So, a cracked smartwatch stuck on the compass app, and it doesn't even do that right."

An emoticon face pops up on the screen. It seems to be shrugging its shoulders and rocking its head back and forth as if to say 'not exactly'.

At this point, Jade decides to go home.

Five or ten turns later, she's home, in a large house, that to the outside eye looks like an old manor home. Inside, though, the house feels new, and a few touches feel decidedly modern, such as the power outlets that seem to be everywhere.

Jade ignores all of this, and goes to her room. She sits down on the bed, a large one with probably more mattress than is strictly necessary.

The sun slowly sinks below the horizon, as Jade asks the relevant question: What just happened?

Clearly there was a certain amount of magic involved. That kind of flash only happens with magic, at least if it's coming from a stretchy wristband. So, was the watch also magical? It'd make sense, but what are the odds? Magic is a minor gift, usually, and the most you'd find is a glittering light between the fingers, a cigarette lit without a lighter, that kind of thing. Magical artifacts are even rarer, and only the really rich, or really lucky, ever seem to have them. So to have the man be wearing one, and to find another... It's just absurdly unlikely. The thoughts roll around Jade's mind, troubling.

She falls asleep.


End file.
